A History of the World in 6 Glasses | Chad's Library | TinyCat |

2024-05-03 10:50 pm

A History of the World in 6 Glasses

by Tom Standage

Paperback, 2006

Status

Available

Call number

394.12 St241

Genres

General Nonfiction

Collection

Publication

Walker Publishing Company (2006), Edition: trade paper, later printing, 336 pages

Description

History. Nonfiction. HTML: From beer to Coca-Cola, the six drinks that have helped shape human history. Throughout human history, certain drinks have done much more than just quench thirst. As Tom Standage relates with authority and charm, six of them have had a surprisingly pervasive influence on the course of history, becoming the defining drink during a pivotal historical period. A History of the World in 6 Glasses tells the story of humanity from the Stone Age to the 21st century through the lens of beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and cola. Beer was first made in the Fertile Crescent and by 3000 B.C.E. was so important to Mesopotamia and Egypt that it was used to pay wages. In ancient Greece wine became the main export of her vast seaborne trade, helping spread Greek culture abroad. Spirits such as brandy and rum fueled the Age of Exploration, fortifying seamen on long voyages and oiling the pernicious slave trade. Although coffee originated in the Arab world, it stoked revolutionary thought in Europe during the Age of Reason, when coffeehouses became centers of intellectual exchange. And hundreds of years after the Chinese began drinking tea, it became especially popular in Britain, with far-reaching effects on British foreign policy. Finally, though carbonated drinks were invented in 18th-century Europe they became a 20th-century phenomenon, and Coca-Cola in particular is the leading symbol of globalization. For Tom Standage, each drink is a kind of technology, a catalyst for advancing culture by which he demonstrates the intricate interplay of different civilizations. You may never look at your favorite drink the same way again..… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member Tanya-dogearedcopy

Easily digestible micro-history about six beverages that reflected their respective times, and in turn influenced history: Beer in Mesopotamia; Wine in Ancient Greece and Rome; Rum in the New World; Coffee in the Middle East and Europe/Enlightenment; Tea in China and Britain; and Coca-Cola in in

the United States/World. There is also an Epilogue about water that brings the work full circle. No number dumps, charts, or power language; but well researched and really interesting!

LibraryThing member PensiveCat

It's the story of how certain beverages affected history, covering each one at the time of its greatest historical impact. I found this to be a good way to learn when certain drinks were developed (I knew nothing about how spirits came forth until this book), and the results in civilization. The

glasses in question were of beer, wine, spirits (esp rum), coffee, tea and Coca Cola. It held my interest until the cola chapter, but that could be because it's too recent to hold any fascination for me.

LibraryThing member ursula

A look at civilization as impacted by beer, wine, spirits, tea, coffee and cola. It's easy reading and an interesting concept, but a little light on information, particularly in the early sections, which go back the farthest in history. I'd be intersted in reading Standage's book about the

"Victorian internet," which he mentions in this book.

LibraryThing member janemarieprice

This was a pretty fun and interesting read. Information wise, it was a bit light and some ideas I thought were a bit of a stretch, but for a general (non-scholarly) nonfiction it was pretty interesting. Standage traces the importance of various beverages to various historical groups/countries over

time. There is some good interesting information in how the beverages were developed in the first place, how their distribution impacted popularity as well as politics. Some interesting stuff though I found the bit I was most interested in what his epilogue of where you can find these historical drinks to try - so some interesting bits on breweries/wineries that are trying historical varieties and processes. Pretty solid read overall.

LibraryThing member conformer

Standage maps out the world's fortunes along the trade paths of six beverages, three alcoholic, three caffeinated. While all six manage to make people rich as well as exploit them, it's the later chapters that are notable in documenting the lengths some people went thru for their booze, right down

to trying to distill pine needles and other organic rubbish. Easy to read and slightly cursory; if you didn't already know where your drink came from, this stands as a decent primer.

LibraryThing member albertgoldfain

A nice historic thread through the six subjects that succeeds in the goal of showing how each drink became very widespread and important. Would have been nice to include odd and obscure drinks that never took off for comparison and to highlight local/regional differences, but overall gives a

broader perspective into what's in the cup.

LibraryThing member JayLivernois

An interesting book picked up at Logan filled with much up to date history and corrective facts on the history of drink. The most enlightening for me was the revelation of the central role wine played in the development of literature, philosophy, and political thought through the ritual wine

drinking culture of ancient Greece. This is never mentioned or outlined in the teaching of Humanities.

LibraryThing member MrsLee

The author begins with the premise that the various drinks which have been popular throughout history have actually driven history.
Although this didn't reveal much new about world history, it certainly contained a lot of interesting facts about beverages throughout history and how their popularity

affected politics and civilization. The chapters on Coca-Cola were a surprise to me, never having thought of that as a world changing beverage. This is not the end-all book of information on the subject, but a nice wrap-up and overview.
Certainly a pleasant way to pass the time, although I did find it necessary to have a cold beverage nearby while reading. The narrator did a fine job, at times it sounded as if he was clenching his teeth, but maybe that is a regional style of speech.

LibraryThing member burningtodd

This book offers a fresh way of looking at history. For those of us that like to drink, this is a good book to read. In this book, the history of the world is viewed from not just a cultural perspective, but a very specific aspect of culture, what and why people imbibe what they do.

LibraryThing member lizzybeans11

I used this book as a quick reference for a project on the history of coffee a few years ago. At the time I only ever had a chance to read the coffee portion because I was swamped with resources.

I'm finally at my leisure to read the rest of the entries and they are just as good as the coffee

section. As others have noted, if you want a full history you need other resources, and there is a handy bibliography in the back.

You could do this for a great many common things, it is amazing to look at the history of things we use everyday has having a profound impact on the evolution of humanity. If we didn't have these six beverages, the world would be a completely different place.

LibraryThing member JonathanGorman

Not bad. Sometimes there seems to be simplifications. I wish I could remember, but in one or two cases it mentions some misconceptions that I seem to recall reading as being proven wrong. On the other hand though it's obvious there has been a quite a bit of research and there's an excellent

bibliography in the back. No one's perfect. A well written though and a quick read for those interested in food and drinks and excellent pointers for further reading.

LibraryThing member wyvernfriend

Quite an interesting look at the world from the point of view of 6 different drinks. Beer to start, then Wine, Spirits, Coffee, tea and Cola. Beer is part of ancient history, a time when it was a safe drink when water was polluted. Wine came next, accompanying Classical Greece and Rome, where they

drank it diluted. Spirits were part of the colonial period. They could be easily carried, they survived all those voyages well without spoilage. Coffee is the next one, learning that coffee was brewed first and then re-heated really didn't make me want to experience those early coffees. Tea was the next beverage to come into society, later than you might think. Today's drink is Cola, the drink of the 20th Century and symbol of American Cultural imperialism.

The idea is interesting and it was fun to watch the changing attitudes and fashions over the ages. A light book but made me think about the importance of what we drink and what it has done to society.

LibraryThing member librarygeek33

Not exactly a page-turner, but very interesting.

LibraryThing member LeHack

Who would have thought that rum was as good as money? Or that grog prevented sailors from getting scurvy? This is a history of world beverages such as tea, coffee, beer, wine, rum, whiskey. What did the colonists drink? Beer for breakfast? The author answers questions such as why was whiskey

produced inland, but wine did better on the coasts? The slave trade didn't start because of cotton plantations, but rather the sugar cane plantations in the Caribbean. Think coffeehouses are new? England had coffeehouses in the 17th century. An enjoyable read if you have an interest in history. Without some of these beverages, history may have been different.

LibraryThing member DavidGoldsteen

Standage's "History of the World in 6 Glasses", like his "Edible History of Humanity," provides an interesting view into history from a vantage point that is at once novel yet familiar to all of us. It's full of gee-whiz facts about the development of various drinks and how they both influenced and

reflected their times.

Standage's style is clear and enjoyable.

LibraryThing member GoofyOcean110

This pleasant-enough little ditty takes a look at the origins of six drinks that have prominently played a role in various world civilizations over time. Three contain alcohol: beer, wine, and spirits, while three contain caffeine: coffee, tea, and Coca-Cola. The widespread consumption of these

drinks generally overlaps with major paradigm shifts in civilizations: shifting to agrarian societies in ancient Middle East, the dominance of the Greek and Roman empires, expansion of global European exploration and trade, the clarity of Enlightenment and Revolutionary thinking, the military dominance of the British Empire, and influence of American consumerism. The book ends with some general thoughts on the current and future importance of water as a drink and scarce resource and suggests that perhaps we have come full circle.

The book serves to bring together in a general way the origins of these drinks and some of the main contemporary events through world history. Its main utility in doing so, I feel, is to provide fodder for fun factoids to foist upon friends at cocktail parties. The chapters are short and a bit choppy, but generally end with a tidy tidbit that is easily remembered and brought out on short notice for pub trivia. It’s as if the reader is on tour with an alcoholic and ADD-addled guide: the flow is fairly quick, each chapter is eager to end, and before you know it you’ve traveled two centuries and halfway across the world.

I didn’t think this book was as well or thoroughly researched as it could have been. There’s very little (if anything) new brought to light regarding world history or even the drinks and remains on well-trod turf throughout, though it does provide a decent synthesis. The depth is only far enough to provide a few interesting factoids about each drink rather than to pursue detail on any of them in particular. This makes the book a fairly light and easy read, but can leave the reader with many questions. No references, end notes, or foot notes were used in the text itself, and the bibliography is fairly slim. A few statements seemed off to me, many appeared to be unsupported or overstated, and I questioned a few as to how he or anyone could possibly claim to know.

I’ll give it three stars for the solidity of its mediocrity, and recommend it to anyone who wants to know just enough to sound mildly impressive while mildly inebriated.

Cheers! L’Chaim! Salud!

LibraryThing member Pferdina

My favorite chapter was the spirits chapter, because I learned the most new information. I had not quite realized previously how recent the widespread availability of distilled spirits is, and this book helped put that in context with beer, wine, coffee, and tea. All the other chapters were also

interesting.

LibraryThing member manatree

Quick and easy read on the history of beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea & Coca-Cola. WHile neither drink is covered in great detail, he does provide recommended readings for those who want to delve deeper.

LibraryThing member ACQwoods

This book traces the history of civilization through six broadly defined eras in which the primary drink was beer, wine, liquor, coffee, tea, and finally cola. I most enjoyed the first three sections (beer, wine and liquor) because they dealt with civilizations from thousands of years ago. Once the

book got to more modern times the premise sometimes felt stretched. For example, the author cited first taxes on whiskey and later those on tea as inciting the American revolution. While they certainly both contributed, the author tried to make the same point twice and didn't really acknowledge the inconsistency. Even so, it was an interesting book and made me think a lot more about what I drink!

LibraryThing member Pamici

A very interesting subject, passably well-researched though not the most compelling writing style. Unique and insightful method of categorization.

LibraryThing member raypratt

interesting premise - well done

LibraryThing member SwitchKnitter

This was a fun read. I like books that present history from a different perspective, and Standage's approach in this text is particularly interesting. I didn't know the origins of wine, the details of how Britain sold opium to the Chinese in the late 18th century, or how Coca-Cola went global.

Stories like these made for an entertaining and informative book. Recommended.

LibraryThing member Maura_Baker

AP World History Review: A Description of my Opinion of this Book
A History of the World in 6 Glasses is a world history overview separated into the six time "periods" of the world: beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and cola. This book gives you the historical facts with easy-to-understand

comparisons. It's and especially great overview of world history for those who are taking AP World History or just world history. It would be a great resource to use to study for tests. This book gives the same facts as any textbook does, but it is much more interesting to read, so I feel as though I retained the information better.
This book was surprisingly a really good read. Even though I read this book for my history class, I would've enjoyed reading this book in my free time. The author does a great job of stating the facts in an interesting way. While I was reading, I remembered things that I had forgotton that we learned about earlier in the year such as the patron-client relationship. After reading it, I think that I will always retain that information because I never once was bored. The author did a good job at reconfirming things that I was unsure about and he helped me understand world history better. This was a really great and interesting read and I recommend this book to anyone taking a world history class as an overview or to anyone who wants an easy-to-understand description of the world.

LibraryThing member RachelfromSarasota

It is but a short step from reading about what America ate to being interested in what it drank, and Tom Standage’s book clearly lays out how six beverages in particular have greatly shaped world history. Beer, wine, hard spirits (whiskey, brandy, and rum, in particular), tea, coffee, and believe

it or not, cola, are the six drinks that Standage claim were some of the pivots upon which history was shaped. A great book, well-written and absolutely fascinating! I had already read a great book on the influence of rum on world and American history, and some terrific books on the introduction of coffee to Europe and how coffee-houses replaced taverns and changed the intellectual path of the world, but this short book (273 pages) lays everything out in one clear and concise pattern. Highly recommended.

LibraryThing member satyridae

This fascinating chronicle covers beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea and Coca Cola. Each one could have been a book to itself. This made a very nice overview of the subjects.

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2005

Physical description

311 p.; 5.61 inches

ISBN

0802715524 / 9780802715524

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